The Political Inevitability of Immigration Reform

By the Editors -
Nov 8, 2012

Having helped power President Barack Obama to victory over Mitt Romney, Hispanic voters are suddenly
the “it” demographic in U.S. politics.

Hispanics made up 10 percent of the total vote and gave
Obama almost three votes for every one earned by Romney. Obama
may even have won a majority among Florida’s Cuban voters, who
were once a Republican mainstay. With more than 60,000 Hispanics
turning 18 every month between now and 2016, we doubt many
Republicans are still in denial about the demographic hole
they’ve dug for themselves. The question is, what will they do
about it?

Obama has every incentive to pursue comprehensive
immigration reform to provide pathways to legal status and
citizenship for the nation’s roughly 11 million illegal
immigrants. He has campaigned for it, and a crucial constituency
demands it.

According to exit polls, 65 percent of voters support
giving illegal immigrants in the U.S. a chance to apply for
legal status. In a closely divided nation, that counts as a
convincing supermajority. The Dream Act, which would ease the
way to citizenship for young illegal immigrants who attend
college or enlist in the military, should be part of a reform
package, along with more visas for high-skills immigrants.

Republicans have two options. They can join the White House
in shaping immigration reform, all the while knowing that the
president will get the lion’s share of credit. This is
politically unappealing in the short term, which is certainly
one reason Republicans have resisted it. However, the
alternative promises even more dispiriting political
consequences.

If Republicans again oppose immigration reform, they risk
cementing their reputation as obstructionists and, in the
process, tightening the Democrats’ hold on a large and rapidly
growing constituency. This is tantamount to political surrender,
if not suicide. It would be a terrible outcome for the country
and a self-inflicted wound that could hobble national Republican
campaigns for years to come.

Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner seems to
recognize that. “A comprehensive approach is long overdue, and
I’m confident that the president, myself, others can find the
common ground to take care of this issue once and for all,” he
told ABC News yesterday.

The U.S. needs sensible immigration reform to rationalize a
system that serves no one’s interests well. It also needs its
two political parties to compete for votes not along racial
lines but across them. Republicans have long maintained that
Hispanics, who are often socially conservative, mesh naturally
with the Republican base. Yet it is the job of political parties
to sell themselves to voters and win their support. Republicans
have largely failed to do that with Hispanics, blacks or Asian-
Americans. (The latter two groups gave Obama an even more
lopsided share of their votes than Hispanics did.)

Immigration reform is important for the nation’s well-
being; resolving it will improve relations with an important
trading partner, Mexico, and with other neighbors in a rising
region. It will also help a troubled economy. Standard & Poor’shas found that cities with high immigration levels show
improvements in credit ratings, tax bases and per-capita
incomes. High-skills immigrants, meanwhile, not only increase
productivity but also generate jobs.

Reform would also improve the quality of our politics.
True, in the short term reform would probably benefit Democrats.
In the long run, however, it might prove to be a lifeline for
Republicans.